Werewolf
Werewolves, also known as Lycanthropes, are a supernatural species in Vampire Diaries. Werewolves were hinted at in the last episode of the first season (although mild suggestions had occasionally been made prior to this) and until that moment their existence was unknown. They were first seen in the episode Bad Moon Rising, where Mason transformed into a werewolf because of the full moon. History, Physical and Psychological Characteristics By reading Isobel Saltzman's research for Duke University and speaking to her assistant, Vanessa Monroe, Elena discovered that according to legend, a vampire will die if bitten by a werewolf, and that centuries ago vampires hunted werewolves because of this. As a result of the vampires' genocidal campaign, werewolves are now almost extinct. Although their natural prey are vampires, werewolves will (and do) hunt humans. They are living creatures, while vampires are undead. The first transformation on the first full moon under the curse is extremely painful and last for hours. Mason described it as the worst night of his life (The Sacrifice). According to legend, 600 years ago the Aztecs were plagued by vampires and werewolves that terrorized the countryside, making farming and hunting impossible, until an Aztec Shaman used a powerful spell to curse them and "bind werewolves to the moon" and making vampires "slaves to the sun". When the full moon appears, those who have activated the curse will transform into a wolf. This spell is apparently bound to the Moonstone the Lockwoods possessed. Centuries of rivalry and animosity have made vampires and werewolves supernatural enemies with vampires eventually driving the werewolves to near extinction; in fact werewolves are now so rare that even most vampires considered them folklore and fiction - just like most of the human population believe vampires, werewolves, spell casting witches etc. are. Werewolves are known to be aggressive even in human form. Tyler Lockwood often had trouble controlling his temper. Those with the werewolf curse still latent can exhibit some supernatural traits which can be triggered by aggression, along with unusual physical strength for the person's given size but they cannot fully transform. With the curse activated their eyes turn yellow while enraged, as Mason's eyes did when he stopped the fight between Tyler and Carter (Brave New World). Activating the curse is also painful. When there is a full moon after sunset they transform into canine form, looking very much like a timberwolf,although larger. They can also be distinguished from regular wolves by their displays of supernatural strength and speed. However, not all werewolves look the identical. George Lockwood's wolf form, for example, may have looked different from Mason's. Their prey are principally vampires but they have and do attack humans. If a werewolf finds prey, whether it's a human or a vampire, it will be mauled, ripped apart and devoured. In 1864, George Lockwood had attacked several humans and killed them, leaving horrific wounds on the corpses,(essentially ripping them apart) much worse than any vampire would have. This is evident when one of Katherine's vampire family reports to her, describing wounds "worde than anything had ever seen before".Despite this, with the cooperation of Katherine Pierce, a vampire with her own agenda, George was able to convince the Mystic Falls town council that vampires were responsible which lead to their round up. It is unknown if George continued his attacks there or elsewhere. It is assumed that anyone who is bitten by a werewolf can become one. Since the curse is passed down genetically/mystically they can mate with ordinary humans and their progeny will be given the curse. The gene/curse is passed down through the men in the family, although the children who have the gene are not proper werewolves themselves. The curse is triggered when they are responsible for the death of a human being, intentional or not; from this point onwards they will periodically transform under the full moon. Katherine Pierce, the same vampire who cooperated and plotted with George Lockwood to get rid of her fellow vampires in 1864, had compelled a human named Jimmy to attack Mason Lockwood who did not know of Katherine's interference in the Emerald Coast, Florida. Jimmy repeatedly attacked his friend Mason Lockwood until he was accidentally killed by Mason defending himself. This triggered the curse within Mason. (Unknown to Damon Salvatore, a vampire, he would do the same thing to Carter when he compelled him into attacking Tyler Lockwood, Mason's nephew. Knowing there was something strange about Mason, Damon's intent was to have Mason intervene in the hope that he would reveal his then-unrevealed supernatural nature. Mason was able to prevent Tyler killing Carter in a rage, saving his nephew from being cursed also. Carter would die later that night anyway, but not at the hands of Tyler). Following Mason being murdered by Damon in the episode Plan B, Katherine repeated her tactic, compelling Matt to suicidally attack Tyler Lockwood in order to activate the curse within Tyler. Although Matt failed, Kathrine had a girl named Sarah compelled as a back-up; she stabbed Tyler with a letter opener, causing him to instinctively lash out in anger and pain. As a result, Sarah fatally wounded her head and Tyler became a proper werewolf. Tyler later found a video that Mason recorded showing his first transformation. There it was revealed that as time passes, the transformations get quicker, but the first time is horribly slow and the person is subjected to at least five hours of intense pain before turning. In By the Light of the Moon we finally see a werewolf transformation. During the transformation the body of the person is twisted in an unnatural manner as bones reshape and shift to form a wolf skeleton, causing the person immense pain. Later the person grows excessive body hair and becomes feral, as witnessed when Tyler attempts to attack Caroline. It seems that older werewolves can control themselves to some extent on the night of the full moon, even in werewolf form; while Tyler was shown to be in agony undergoing the transformation in his secluded spot, Jules was seen sitting comfortably in the Mystic Grill bar, "socialising" with Damon before threatening him. Later, Jules (in wolf form) confronts Damon at his home but attacks Rose instead when she tries to save Damon. This suggests some level of control as Jules presumably had opportunities to attack humans on the way to the Salvatore House, but made a point of hunting down Damon. Although, it seems she does not have full control as she woke up in the woods the next morning to discover she had slaughtered a group of campers. Powers and Abilities Super Strength - In human form, werewolves are far stronger than regular humans, and can become stronger still if they are angered enough. This temporary boost is evident by the appearance of wolf eyes in human form,as seen when Carter angers Mason or when Tyler attacks Caroline. However, they still seem to be weaker than vampires while in human form. Even recently-turned Caroline Forbes (only a few weeks/months old in vampire terms) was able to easily overpower Mason (a werewolf for about a year) when he threatened Elena. Although it should be noted that this is the only relatively fair comparison to date that can be made between the two species. That is to say, we know that the Salvatores are at least 145/146 in vampire years, and the Original Elijah may be several thosand years old - but we have no idea how long Jules, Brady etc. have been werewolves, so a proper comparison of how strong human-form werewolves are against vampires can't be made yet. Although it seems werewolves are comparatively weaker for the majority of the month, the tables are certainly turned when they take lupine form. Under the full moon their powers are at their peak, making werewolves easily superior to vampires. Although able to best Mason in hand-to-hand combat in his human form, Caroline was helpless against Mason when he was transformed; she would have definitely died had it not been for Stefan's intervention - although he also struggled to wrestle Mason from her and could have possibly died as well had Tyler not intervened. Even newly-changed werewolves are a threat; although she had bested Mason, Caroline also struggled to hold Tyler behind a large door during his first transformation, despite him poisoning and weakening himself with wolfsbane beforehand. Eventually, Caroline had to run to safety. It's however unclear how much of a threat werewolves in their wolf form are to Originals like Elijah, who's able to overpower a whole pack of them in human form as easy if not easier than a vampire of moderate age (like Stefan or Damon) could overpower a human of average strength. It's highly unlikely that a turned werewolf would stand a chance against him alone. Super Speed - While in wolf form, Mason seemed to run much faster than the vampires could. Even in human form they can still move exceptionally quickly - much faster than humans. Jules has shown this when she escaped Elijah as he slaughtered her pack, and even Tyler has shown enhanced speed when pinnign Caroline against a car during a confrontation. Heightened Senses - Werewolves have an extremely keen sense of smell, displayed by Jules when she sniffed the wolfsbane in her drink and recognised Damon was a vampire the second he entered the bar. They also show signs of superhuman hearing, even before activating the curse, which may surpass a vampire's hearing. Mayor Lockwood was affected by the Gilbert Device (see below) alongside the vampires within its supposed 5 block radius. However, his son, Tyler, was affected whilst driving presumably several miles away from the town centre, suggesting a greater hearing range than vampires. Super-Agility - They also possess superhuman agility. Mason has been seen leaping probably some 20 feet off the ground. Werewolves have been depicted to perform acrobatics in mid-air, as well as possessing superhuman flexibility, coordination, and balance. and Carter]] Accelerated Healing - Werewolves possess superhuman regenerative abilities. Even in human form, they appear to heal as effectively as vampires. Although he was in great pain, Mason took seconds to recover from being stabbed in the chest with a silver knife by Damon. It's possible that even when the werewolf gene's unactivated, potential werewolves may heal faster or may be more durable than regular humans, as Tyler Lockwood walked away virtually unharmed from the car crash that put (then-human) Caroline in intensive care. It is currently unknown if werewolves have prolonged life spans. Bite: Although a werewolf seems to be no match for a vampire most of the time, they more than make up for this under the full moon; despite being far stronger and faster than their prey, werewolves have another deadly advantage - their bite is fatal to vampires. Should a vampire be bitten by a werewolf and escape rather than being savagely ripped apart and eaten, it will die a slow, agonising death. At first, the wound will heal as normal although later it will be painful to touch and appear infected. From here the infection will spread and the vampire will suffer great pain (later unendurable agony), severe and uncontrollable hunger, bouts of paranoia and mindless rage, delusions, moments of senile dementia and, ultimately, death. In order to spare Rose agony and indignity Damon had to stake Rose in her sleep when she was bitten by Jules. Apparently, there is no cure for a werewolf bite. It's unknown if a werewolf bite is letal to an Original. Weaknesses Extreme physical harm - Although werewolves are extremely resiliant creatures, their regenerative abilities have their limits. It has been illustrated that, like vampires, a werewolf will die if its heart is removed. This was first witnessed when Damon tore out Mason's heart. Afterwards, Damon, Stefan and Elijah have all used this method to murder attacking werewolves. At present, the effects of other severe injuries such as extraction of other organs or decapitation have not been examined. However, Elijah appeared to kill a werewolf by breaking its neck with a powerful punch. Stefan also appeared to kill a werwolf with a flamethrower, suggesting severe burns are also beyond a werewolf's recuperative abilities. Device / High-pitched frequencies- A known weakness of the werewolves was the Device. Invented by Jonathan Gilbert (but only functional because of Emily Bennett's magical assistance), the Device was a weapon designed to emit a high-frequency noise for 5 minutes which would painfully incapacitate vampires due to their super-sensitive hearing. However, it was revealed that werewolves were affected by it as well - perhaps even more so that vampires -when Mayor Lockwood and his son Tyler were seen collapsing in agony upon the Device's activation. As mentioned above, the Device is now useless but high-pitched noises are most likely still a notable lycanthrope weakness. Wolfsbane - Wolfsbane'' (also known as aconitum vulparia and'' Monk's Hood) is an herb that affects werewolves in a similar manner to vervain's effect on vampires, as it also burns them on contact and is extremely harmful upon consumption and very likely to cause the death of the werewolf. Some other terms used for this herb are aconite, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's helmet or blue rocket. Damon Salvatore force fed wolfsbane during his torture of Mason in the episode Plan B. It induced vomiting blood. Both Mason and Tyler ingested wolfsbane in order to help weaken them during their transformations. [[Witch|'Magic']] - Can also be used to harm werewolves, as Bonnie triggered several aneurysms in Mason's brain, causing severe pain. However, once she stopped Mason could then heal and recover (this power also can harm vampires, although not very old ones like Katherine Pierce). Jonas Martin also used this tactic to immobilise Jules and her pack when rescuing the Salvatores from them on behalf of Elijah. Magic can used against any supernatural entity, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Myths *'Silver'- They are not weakened by or allergic to silver, as Mason explained after Damon stabbed him with a silver knife. Mason said that the myth was probably started by werewolves. *'Full Moon-' Initially, the werewolves could use all their power without the full moon, but after the Aztec shaman's curse, they must wait for the full moon to use their true power. Gallery TylersEye.jpg|Tyler's eye Werewolfpromo.jpg|Mason after his transformation Cellar3claw.jpg|Claw marks in the cellar Vlcsnap-2010-12-10-19h52m43s14.png|Jules in her wolf form vlcsnap-2010-12-10-20h04m01s131.png|Mason in his wolf form vlcsnap-2010-12-10-20h11m50s218.png|Tyler's face while transforming vlcsnap-2010-12-10-20h16m13s29.png|Tyler getting ready for his first transformation vlcsnap-2010-12-10-20h26m13s143.png|Tyler after his first transformation Known Werewolves # Tyler Lockwood (Triggered Curse) # Richard Lockwood (Untriggered Curse) (Deceased) # Mason Lockwood (Triggered Curse) (Deceased) # George Lockwood (Triggered Curse) (Deceased) # Jules (Unknown) # Brady (Unknown) (Deceased) # Stevie (Unknown) (Deceased) # Brady`s Group - Unnamed Werewolves (Unknown) (Deceased) Category:Vampire Diaries Characters Category:Supernatural Category:Werewolves Category:Lockwood Family